How A Plate Of Biryani Is Causing Controversy In The UAE

Parents are angry with school canteens for selling biryani for breakfast

Posted on

14 November 2018

|Last updated on 14 November 2018

A plate of biryani seems to have stirred the pot in the UAE

A mother was livid after finding out that her son’s school canteen sold her son a plate of Biryani in the morning.

Causing the Fujairah Education Zone to investigate many private schools that sell such breakfast options in Dubai.

Biryani, a traditional rice dish is a particularly heavy dish to consume in the morning – especially for students at a school in Dubai.

The mother had complained after her son told her he had bought a plate of Biryani at school and ate it for breakfast one morning.

The reason behind the mother’s anger was due to a digestive problem her son suffers from – saying that such heavy means can affect his chronic condition.

Made up of rice, spice and chicken or meat, a plate of biryani is not a seemingly appropriate dish to be sold to students on school premises – however, authorities have confirmed that canteens are allowed to sell such dishes if they comply with health standards by the Ministry of Education.

Several schools are recorded to sell the plate of biryani to their students on school grounds for AED10 a plate since it is not illegal to do so.

However, the Fujairah school’s supervisor that an investigation will be launched to ensure that all dishes served in that school are complying to health standards – whether a plate of biryani, a burger or a sandwich.

A new platform to monitor the food at schools

To avoid situations such as these, the Dubai Municipality announced back in September the launch of a new digital platform that will allow authorities and parents to “see” what their children are eating at school.

To "see" the food just means that the platform will you to monitor what food the suppliers and caterers serve on the menu every day. And this will go hand-in-hand with the municipality’s specifications and requirements of healthily rated food.

With the help of this initiative, students will from thereon only be served healthy food that is rated and approved as by the Dubai Municipality’s compliance.